Bush Defends Iraq Contract Decision

[muriel_volestrangler]

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3977951

"It's very simple. Our people risked their lives. Friendly coalition folks risked their lives, and therefore the contracting is going to reflect that, and that's what the U.S. taxpayers expect," Bush said.


Please sign the contracts at the bottom, in your soldiers' blood. Have a nice day, y'all!

[Ganja Ninja]

1. He's a uniter not a divider.

ahhhyupp! ahhhyupp! ahhhyupp!

[LisaM]

2. Is it just me, or does this seem like a smokescreen?

These folks are always sliding nasty legislation in under the radar while everyone gets in a tizzy over decisions like this (don't get me wrong, I think it's awful, but I think that it's illegal and they eventually will not enact these restrictions if there's money to be made). In the meantime, the Plame investigation has disappeared, AIDs funding is slashed, the press Dean was getting from the Gore endorsement has vanished, etc., etc.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. oh, there's money to be made

US limits likely to raise costs in Iraq

Competition to suffer from restricting firms

The United States is likely to inflate Iraq's spiraling postwar costs by limiting the number of companies that can participate in Iraqi reconstruction, analysts and politicians say.

The Pentagon on Tuesday unveiled a list of contracts worth $18.6 billion it would award to help revive war-torn Iraq but said only firms from countries that supported the US-led assault on Saddam Hussein need apply for them. That excludes France, Germany, and Russia and strengthens the position of US giants Bechtel Group and Halliburton Co. -- which already dominate the rebuilding -- for more Iraq-related business.

"Any competitive process is enhanced with open bidders," said Ed Porter, research manager at the American Petroleum Institute. "A restricted bid does just the opposite."

The new contracts, which will be funded by the US government, would cover such tasks as repairing roads, communication systems, electricity grids, oil fields, and water and sewage lines. Until now, most Iraq reconstruction projects have been managed by major US firms, many of which were handed contracts after closed-door bids that fueled charges of cronyism. Bechtel and Halliburton are closely tied to the Bush administration; both are contributors to the Republican party and Dick Cheney served as Halliburton's chief executive before becoming George Bush's vice presidential nominee.

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2003/12/11/us_limits_likely_to_raise_costs_in_iraq/

[salinen]

4. "So in the future

France, Germany, and Russia, know that if you don't behave like an out-of-control dictatorship and cause pre-emptive wars built on lies, you won't get any candy from the U.S.A.

[pinto]

12. Media Manipulation is Number One. Resistance is Futile.

[murielm99]

5. The EU is probably going to fight this.

They think it is illegal under the World Trade Organization obligations the U.S. has. This could go the way of the steel tarrifs. I hope so! The more waffling Shrub does, the worse he looks:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3308261.stm

Hey! You have my name!

[el_gato]

6. halliburton and bechtel never risked anything!

what a larf

[maxsolomon]

7. "friendly coalition folks"

that affable, folksy language chimpy uses when discussing our blood-stained hegmony makes me fucking vomit.

[SeattleDem]

8. NOT what this taxpayer expects

"that's what the U.S. taxpayers expect," Bush said."

Actually, this taxpayer expects a competitve process so that I get the most services for my dollar. If a French company provides the lowest bid for a given project, isn't THAT what is in the taxpayers' best interests? How is price inflation good for the taxpayers?

Oh yeah, I forgot - this is a credit card administration who spends our money like a drunken gambler. Comparison shopping and frugality are out the window....

[pinto]

11. kick!......n/t

[snippy]

9. Warlords always dole out the spoils of war only to their followers.

Bush is nothing more than a warlord with the most powerful forces.

Why would the warlord Bush not follow the well established practice?

[PaDUer]

10. He's giving Baker

his payback and insurance..

[Gloria]

13. Here's a Canadian editorial on this....from the Toronto Star...this AM

The description of Bush's actions are sublime....


http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1071097809404&call_pageid=968256290204&col=968350116795


Editorial: U.S. slaps at friends


Canada's prosperity hardly hinges on picking up a chunk of Iraq's reconstruction program. But U.S. President George Bush makes no friends here by spitefully freezing us out of the bidding for contracts.

Certainly, he has chosen a graceless way to welcome incoming Prime Minister Paul Martin, punishing Canada for being a principled ally and even implying that we're a threat to U.S. "security interests."

In a crude display of pettiness that Martin, like many Canadians, finds hard to fathom, Bush has barred countries that did not take part in the war on Iraq and which aren't keen to be occupiers, from bidding for $18 billion in U.S.-funded contracts to patch the place together. This cold shoulder is "totally appropriate," the White House insists.

Nice try, folks. But no sale.

Along with most of the world, Canadians differed with the Bush administration on the need to attack Saddam Hussein's regime. But we have been a staunch ally where it matters. We don't deserve to be stiffed for our principles, or bribed to park them at the door.

Just this week, U.S. ambassador Paul Cellucci praised us for our "pretty significant" help in Afghanistan and for being "quite generous" with Iraq aid. He had reason.

MORE

outlining all Canada has been doing....